New Moab City Code Compliance Specialist Mona Pompili (with Moab City Planning Director Jeff Reinhart) gives the Moab City Council a primer on her duties with the city and the procedure for handling code-violation complaints on Tuesday, Jan. 9. Photo by John Hales

The City of Moab now has a full-time code compliance officer: Mona Pompili.

Though, she may not want to be called an “officer” with its law-enforcement connotation.

“This is code compliance,” she said, explaining her position — a new one for the city since the middle of December — to the city council on Tuesday. “This is not an enforcement officer. I’m not an officer, and I don’t want to be an officer.”

What she does, she said, is more by way of encouragement to get people to comply with city codes, either through “friendly reminders” or more substantive official notices. Giving tickets or citations is not her thing, and her proper title is “Code Compliance Specialist.”

“We’re just trying to get people into compliance,” she said.

No, she’s not going to be going through neighborhoods with a camera or a measuring tape looking to bust people. Well, not until someone informs her of a possible infraction, first.

“Complaints will be resident-driven,” Pompili said.

When Pompili receives a complaint, say, about a yard with a junked car or someone using his or her RV as a residence, she said she’d do some primary research and perform a “site visit.” If she determines everything’s hunky-dory after all, there’s no further action. If there is indeed a problem, there will be more research and another visit; if the problem gets fixed, great.

But three strikes and you’ll be out: If a second notice and third visit still result in no corrective action, Pompili will forward the issue to the city attorney who will make a decision about pursuing the matter in civil or criminal court.

She hopes things never get that far.

“We’re really wanting this to be a proactive type of compliance,” she said.

Asked by the council about how things were going so far and what kinds of complaints she was getting, Pompili replied, “You know what? I’ve been here a month. There are no weeds; we haven’t had to deal with illegal camping. Ask me again in three months.”

Nuisance or code-violation complaint forms are found at the city’s website, moabcity.org by clicking “Forms” under the “Resident Resources” menu, then selecting “Forms” from the list at the left side of that page, and clicking on “Zoning Complaint Form.”

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